Article excerpt

The Chase Manhattan Corp. will be a net provider of funds and jobs if it is allowed into Texas, a bank executive pledged to state legislators.

The bank wants to enter the Texas market for no other reason than "to be Texans ourselves,' said Eugene F. Swanzey, a Chase vice president.

The bank will help the Texas economy actively, rather than export the state's deposits elsewhere, Mr. Swanzey said. He spoke on Thursday before a committee of legislators and private citizens that will help draft interstate legislation for the next legislative session in the state, in 1987.

Mr. Swanzey warned the Texans, however, against regional compacts, which he said had cost Florida many of its major banks after that state signed such a compact with Georgia.

Atlanta benefited more from the agreement than did Miami as a financial center, Mr. Swanzey said. "I think the Florida legislators feel they've been had,' he added.

Despite his warning, the regional concept gained the qualified support of James L. Sexton, the Texas commissioner of banking. "We could at least better designate our marriage partners' if Texas joined a regional compact, Mr. Sexton told the committee.

The regional advantage may disappear, though, if pending federal legislation is enacted and exercised before Texas can pass its own interstate powers. The federal legislation would make it easier for regulators to override state law and regulators in arranging out-of-state mergers for failing banks. Mr. Sexton said the federal proposals are clearly on the "legislative fast track' at the request of federal regulators.

"If we already have a New York bank in our state with 70 or 80 locations, then I don't see any real justification for a regional compact,' Mr. …